On the day that Howard Dean officially declared his candidacy for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Joe Trippi endorsed Simon Rosenberg for the same post.
More below the jump...
Update [2005-1-11 23:45:33 by ttagaris]: Jerome over at MyDD reports that the Trippi announcement on Hardball was arranged "a week in advance of the show." Hopefully that will smooth over some of the ill-will in the netroots sparked by the coincidental timing of the endorsement
And no, I am not being sarcastic.
From a guest post by Joe Trippi on Simon Rosenberg's
campaign blog.
If our party is to win in the 21st century, we have to have a strategist who knows how to practice 21st century politics. That means expanding participation, embracing technology, and building an apparatus that can counter the Republican machine.
Simon Rosenberg was among the first in politics to acknowledge the power of the movement we built with Dean for America and he wasn't afraid to speak up about how we were fundamentally changing politics. He knows that in the age of the Internet, our politics must be interactive and participatory to engage citizens.
He knows the Internet is not just an ATM for candidates and parties, but a tool for bringing in millions of Americans who want to be a part of the political process. For Simon, building a new progressive politics for our time is not just lip service, it is a passion backed up by his record. I'm backing Simon for chair because I know I can work with him to help build a modern, winning Democratic party.
Normally endorsements don't carry much weight with me (call it the 3rd person effect), but this one is different.
Regardless of any mistakes that might have been made during the Dean campaign, Joe Trippi revolutionized the way campaigns will be run at every level from here on out. The movement Trippi started with the Dean campaign will forever be remembered as the genesis of a participatory democracy that will hopefully flourish in the "post-modern" world of politics.
For him to talk about Simon's future vision for the party with such high praise, well, that carries weight with me.
What are your thoughts on the endorsement?
Tim